NewsWhistle

11/02/2023

On Our Bookshelves: Ways to Make Sunshine

A Review by Laura LaVelle

Ways to Make Sunshine was the book selected for my daughter’s entire elementary school to read this past year.

09/12/2022

On Our Bookshelves: The Rook

A Review by Laura LaVelle

*** NOVEL: The Rook AUTHOR: Daniel O’Malley YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2012 REVIEW: *** The Rook is a little bit Harry Potter, and a bit of James Bond, and a lot of Jason Bourne, with a female lead. Myfanwy Thomas is an operative in a secret supernatural agency in London, and also an amnesiac. Can she

17/11/2022

On Our Bookshelves: The Impossible Us

A Review by Laura LaVelle

*** NOVEL: The Impossible Us AUTHOR: Sarah Lotz YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2022 REVIEW: *** This book is an awful lot of fun. I happened upon a post about The Impossible Us on tor.com last year, and on the strength of the preview, pre-ordered it. *** Naturally, I forgot all about the matter, but was delig...

10/10/2022

On Our Bookshelves: Silverlock

A Book by Laura LaVelle

*** NOVEL: Silverlock AUTHOR: John Myers Myers YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1949 REVIEW: *** Silverlock has a terrific opening line: “If I had cared to live, I would have died.” A. Clarence Shandon didn’t panic and exhaust himself during a shipwreck. Being depressed, isolated, and indifferent to his o...

28/09/2022

On Our Bookshelves: The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society

A Review by Laura LaVelle

I enjoyed The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society quite a bit, and should not have waited so long to read this charming novel.

12/09/2022

Thanks to Armando Di Cicco for his great US Open coverage!

*** NewsWhistle was live at the 2022 US Open tennis tournament, where players and fans experienced fourteen days of fun and forehands in Flushing Meadows, Queens. This year’s competition ran from August 29th until September 11th. If you're looking for our recaps of Quarterfinal, Semifinal and Fina...

07/09/2022

Day One of the US Open Quarterfinals netted a lot of good tennis. Catch up on all the action.

https://newswhistle.com/2022-us-open-diary-mens-womens-quarterfinals-day-1/

It's Day One of the Men's & Women's Quarterfinals at the 2022 US Open.

30/08/2022

The first day of the 2022 US Open has come and gone. Check out all the tennis action -- on and off the court.

https://newswhistle.com/2022-us-open-diary-daily-tennis-news-on-off-the-court/

*** NewsWhistle is live at the 2022 US Open tennis tournament, where players and fans are experiencing fourteen days of fun and forehands in Flushing Meadows, Queens. This year’s competition runs from August 29th until September 11th. Our daily recaps from reporter Armando Di Cicco and photographe...

04/08/2022

On Our Bookshelves: Beezus and Ramona

A Review by Laura LaVelle

https://newswhistle.com/on-our-bookshelves-beezus-and-ramona/

*** NOVEL: Beezus and Ramona AUTHOR: Beverly Cleary YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1955 REVIEW: *** My younger daughter is a big fan of the Junie B. Jones series of books. I don’t mind them, particularly, but they’re not my favorite, so I thought I’d introduce her to some older books about a difficult g...

14/07/2022

On Our Bookshelves: The House in the Cerulean Sea

A Review by Laura LaVelle

https://newswhistle.com/on-our-bookshelves-the-house-in-the-cerulean-sea/

A friend of mine said that The House in the Cerulean Sea was a hug in book form. And that is pretty much an accurate description of this sweet and comforting novel.

31/05/2022

On Our Bookshelves: The Art of Eating

A Review by Laura LaVelle

https://newswhistle.com/on-our-bookshelves-the-art-of-eating/

*** BOOK: The Art of Eating AUTHOR: M.F.K. Fisher YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1954 REVIEW: *** I recently read M.F.K Fisher’s As They Were, a collection of essays written between 1935 and 1982, which at least purports to be an informal autobiography. It’s not: it’s a collection of disparate pieces, s...

18/05/2022

On Our Bookshelves: Lives in Writing

A Review by

https://newswhistle.com/on-our-bookshelves-lives-in-writing/

20/04/2022

On Our Bookshelves: The Jane Austen Book Club

A Review by Laura LaVelle

https://newswhistle.com/on-our-bookshelves-the-jane-austen-book-club/

The Jane Austen Book Club isn’t a reimagining of one of Jane Austen’s novels.

20/04/2022

Singularity – Six Crucial Music Questions for Beautiful Machines

https://newswhistle.com/singularity-six-crucial-music-questions-for-beautiful-machines/

*** Conrad Schuman and Stefanie Ku are creating sublime synth tunes under the name Beautiful Machines. We've heard two songs already - "Control" and "Survive" - and can't wait for their album Singularity to drop this summer. The music of Beautiful Machines is redolent of sunny teenage days when the....

13/04/2022

On Our Bookshelves: The Franchise Affair

A Book Review by Laura LaVelle

https://newswhistle.com/on-our-bookshelves-the-franchise-affair/

*** NOVEL: The Franchise Affair AUTHOR: Josephine Tey YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1949 REVIEW: *** The Franchise Affair is beautifully written, a mystery well-told. It’s considered a classic in the genre, one of the Crime Writers’ Association’s Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time and one of the Mystery ...

17/03/2022

On Our Bookshelves: Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors

A Review by Laura LaVelle

https://newswhistle.com/on-our-bookshelves-pride-prejudice-and-other-flavors/

*** NOVEL: Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors AUTHOR: Sonali Dev YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2019 REVIEW: *** Pride and Prejudice gets an Indian-American California makeover here, with a gender-swapped version of the classic story. It’s an easy, breezy read, and rather silly and predictable, but there a...

17/03/2022

A Rose in the Dark – Philippe V’s Six Crucial Questions for The Vaticants

https://newswhistle.com/a-rose-in-the-dark-philippe-vs-six-crucial-questions-for-the-vaticants/

Philippe V is fashion created for your inner rock n’ roll rebel. Their refined eyewear, precious metal jewelry, leather goods and exclusive wearables are lush and edgy, a call to confident cool.

03/03/2022

On Our Bookshelves: Humans

A Review by Laura LaVelle

https://newswhistle.com/on-our-bookshelves-humans/

Brandon Stanton’s gift to the world is a collection of stories and connections, those gifts from the universe amplified and shared.

24/02/2022

House On Stilts – Six Crucial Music Questions for Nathan Leigh

https://newswhistle.com/house-on-stilts-six-crucial-music-questions-for-nathan-leigh/

Did you ever work on a project that lasted 10 years? Musician Nathan Leigh did, and it worth the effort and the wait.

14/02/2022

On Our Bookshelves: Piranesi

A Review by Laura LaVelle

https://newswhistle.com/on-our-bookshelves-piranesi/

It’s been a long wait for Susanna Clarke's second novel, 16 years.

01/02/2022

On Our Bookshelves: No Time to Spare

A Review by Laura LaVelle

https://newswhistle.com/on-our-bookshelves-no-time-to-spare/

No Time to Spare is a collection of essays, originally blog posts, collecting some of the best of Ursula Le Guin’s online pieces towards the end of her life.

31/01/2022

Churches – Six Crucial Music Questions for LP

https://newswhistle.com/churches-six-crucial-music-questions-for-lp/

We had to interview LP after hearing their new album called Churches, a collection of 15 sweeping dream-pop arrangements fronted by LP's effervescent and enveloping voice.

31/01/2022

American Utopia on Broadway – A Review by Laura LaVelle

https://newswhistle.com/american-utopia-on-broadway-a-review/

So, after I saw Six, I couldn’t get enough of Broadway concert performances...a few days later, I went to American Utopia.

18/01/2022

On Our Bookshelves: The Thursday Murder Club

A Review by Laura LaVelle

https://newswhistle.com/on-our-bookshelves-the-thursday-murder-club/

I can’t exactly recommend The Thursday Murder Club. Well, maybe I can. I enjoyed reading it, having been very much in the mood for something comforting and undemanding.

03/01/2022

On Our Bookshelves: Bellewether

A Review by Laura LaVelle

https://newswhistle.com/on-our-bookshelves-bellewether/

*** NOVEL: Bellewether AUTHOR: Susanna Kearsley YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2018 REVIEW: *** I’m not sure whether it was the elementary curriculum itself or whether I just wasn’t paying close attention. But in my memory at least, the American history I was taught growing up was sorely lacking and quite...

03/01/2022

Changes – Six Crucial Music Questions for Texas King

https://newswhistle.com/changes-six-crucial-music-questions-for-texas-king/

Texas King crafts stirring tunes (sung by the phenomenal Jordan Macdonald) and plays extraordinarily tight -- performing just as good live as they do on their albums.

15/12/2021

On Our Bookshelves: The Summer Before the War

A Review by Laura LaVelle

https://newswhistle.com/on-our-bookshelves-the-summer-before-the-war/

I’d enjoyed Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand tremendously and was looking forward to seeing what else Helen Simonson had to say.

15/12/2021

Dear Onda Wahl – Six Crucial Music Questions for Lizzie and the Makers

https://newswhistle.com/dear-onda-wahl-six-crucial-music-questions-for-lizzie-and-the-makers/

Describing their sound as "a little bit of old and familiar mixed with alien, fantasy and the unexpected," Lizzie and the Makers say that famed director David Lynch and his legendary Twin Peaks TV show influenced their latest album Dear Onda Wahl.

09/12/2021

Six on Broadway – A Review

https://newswhistle.com/six-on-broadway-review/

The six here are six Queens of England, all wives of Henry VIII, depicted as pop stars in a reality TV-type competition.

09/12/2021

On Our Bookshelves: Belles on Their Toes

A Review by Laura LaVelle

https://newswhistle.com/on-our-bookshelves-belles-on-their-toes/

Much like the earlier Cheaper by the Dozen, Belles on Their Toes is written for a young audience, with funny anecdotes about their large family, and inspirational parts about how they rose to every occasion while dealing with grief and sudden financial hardship.